Laxman Gaikwad

“No native place. No birth-date. No house or farm. No caste, either. That is how I was born.” Laxman Gaikwad’s autobiographical novel Uchalaya (1987)begins thus. It was translated into English and published by the Sahitya Akademi in 1998 asUchalaya – The Branded. Gaikwad has worked among the Denotified and Nomadic Tribes of Maharashtra from a young age. Uchalya is also the name of a tribe that was notified as ‘criminal’ under the provisions of the Criminal Tribes Act first passed in 1871 and subsequently amended from time to time. Uchalaya was awarded the Maharastra Gourav Puraskar. He has written a number of books thereafter and was awarded the Best Writer Award by the Government of Maharastra in 2005. He continues his work with the displaced tribes and has played a leading role in implementing a Commission for All India Denotified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes by Government Of India in 2006.